While trying to find a violin class in Singapore, I realized that not everything is cut and dry on what you are looking for. I searched long and hard for a class that taught violin but found a lot of single person classes with teachers who were not very good. I thought that my search was going to come up null, but then I saw an ad in the paper for a teacher looking to start a class and I took a chance on that.

The advertisement read “Violin teacher looking to start a class, if interested email.” I got curious and emailed. Within an hour, I got a warm response talking about how he was a teacher who used to teach violin in Russia and had sense moved to Singapore after falling in love with the area. He had started to miss teaching and seeing people learn, so he thought he’d try and see if anyone was interested in a class. Lucky for him, I was very interested and so was 10 other people.

He invited us to a loft space that he had rented out. The loft was spacious and offered amazing acoustics for playing in. He started the class by talking about how his interest in the violin started and then asked how we got interested. Hearing others stories was amazing and ignited so much passion in all of us. It was then time to play our first notes and together, we sounded like a mess but within 10 minutes, the teacher had us all playing the same note and sounding like an angelic howl of strings.

The teachers passion for playing effected all of us! We wanted to show him that we were just as passionate as him and not let him down. By the time the first class was over, we were already making plans for the next month of classes. He had a charm around him that made you feel like he cared about you, the violin, and Singapore. After all, these were his passions. It made me reflect on my own passions and how I effect other people with them.

I learned so much from him over the years I had him as a teacher. Things from how your energy effects others, how to treat people, and how to play the violin. Sadly, a few years ago, he passed away. I keep reminders of him and his love for everything around him in my heart. I will never forget him and I am sure others in the class won’t forget him either.